Learning by doing – crypto is not just for criminals

Blockchain technology is rapidly evolving and has a lot of potential across many industries. Unfortunately, they’re a bit complex to understand. That’s why it’s important to explain them in simple terms which is what the “Blocks with Benefits” project does very well (I’m contributing a bit and you can sign up to the free newsletter here).

As of today, there are all kinds of issues with blockchains. Traditional databases are still better suited to a broad range of applications. Efficient, however, isn’t necessarily the entire story.

While the internet has come a long way in the past 20 years, network effects are a growing concern. These effects have brought us the tech giants we know today. Why would you want to join the second-largest social network? Does it make sense to buy on the second-largest marketplace?

On the individual level, it’s easy to see why being part of the majority makes sense. In the longer term, however, it leads to more and more centralization, giving a few tech companies an enormous amount of power. And that’s before the widespread adoption of AI which is yet another centralizing force due to the demand for vast amounts of computing power.

That’s a short summary about why I’ve long been interested in blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies. I don’t believe bitcoin is going to de-dollarise the world economy anytime soon. Financial systems, however, don’t necessarily have to rely on central banks (which don’t get things right all the time either). That’s a much longer discussion though.

For now, cryptocurrencies don’t have a good reputation. Most people simply rely on media headlines about scams and ponzi schemes though. Those are certainly a problem, particularly given the lack of regulation of the industry. Nevertheless, there are a lot of genuinely positive use cases already, and those are set to grow in the coming months and years.

You can read all about those – or you can just try it yourself. All you need is a crypto wallet (which is free to download). There’s no need to be afraid as long as your’re careful – and you can read a lot more about crypto wallets in this post.